lol

7/6/2009 4:00:27 PM

Quote :

"P.S. - Don't write off personal brain. It's simple, visually nice, and you can make broad, searchable connections: "

I didn't write it off, but it's MindMapping software, not information management software. You have to go through all kinds of contortions to try and bridge that gap, plus at least one other piece of software.

7/6/2009 5:46:57 PM

anybody use any mindmapping software they really like?

8/5/2010 11:13:22 AM

http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/cdoffice/main.php

8/5/2010 12:19:19 PM

visually, it's a little rough around the edges, but for ease of use and functionality-wise, that seems like it's pretty on point. i wouldn't mind seeing a free version, but the trial works too

8/5/2010 12:42:48 PM

I've never really seen the appeal of mindmapping software.

but no one's tried to sell me on it either.

seriously, what's the benefit?

8/5/2010 12:50:03 PM

here's why i'm wanting to try it

i brainstorm about stuff all the time, but if i leave it in my head, i forget stuff

so normally i write ideas on paper so i don't forget about them. i write much slower than i think or type so it quickly becomes irritating for me to brainstorm on paper. because of that, when i do actually bite the bullet and write something down, i don't have a consistent notebook to put my ideas in. i currently have 5 different notebooks that have notes in them, scattering subjects from notebook to notebook

also, paper is small, and i like to write big for some reason. writing small makes my mind feel cramped i guess. when i write big on paper, i don't have a lot of room to expand. so sometimes i use a whiteboard. i can write a little faster on a whiteboard, and i have more room, so i can write big. but i only have a whiteboard at work and in my home office. not very portable.

so then there's digital. i used to use Outlook notes to collect thoughts, and for a long time, i had a lot of success with that. but i don't use outlook much anymore, so that's kindof a pain. i've also tried using things like google docs, OneNote and evernote to make lists of thoughts, but they always become a black hole, they never get organized, and rarely get revisited. i could probably overcome that by forming more disciplined habits in the way i use those services, but i've never been able to get in the groove of doing that.

so now i'm trying mind-mapping products, and we'll see if that works out any better for me

[Edited on August 5, 2010 at 1:20 PM. Reason : .]

8/5/2010 1:19:50 PM

Quote :

"visually, it's a little rough around the edges, but for ease of use and functionality-wise, that seems like it's pretty on point. i wouldn't mind seeing a free version, but the trial works too"

yeah, it's not the prettiest girl in school, but it worked really well for me when I needed it

8/5/2010 1:32:09 PM

too bad Courier got canned

8/5/2010 4:23:17 PM

i played around with a few more applications, and gonna go with Mindjet MindManager. has a nice, office 2007 ribbon UI, has an editable outline view, has ctrl+mouse scroll zoom, has topic notes, priorities, icons, etc etc. it's pretty pricey at $349, but i think i can use the 30 day trial to get most of what i need done, and if i see myself using it more, i might buy it then

8/7/2010 12:21:37 PM

I thought I had a free license to some mindmapping software that I was going to give you but I cant seem to find it anymore.

Have you tried out http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page ?

or

http://compendium.open.ac.uk/institute/

or

http://www.xmind.net/

They are all open source, and cross compatible formats I believe.

[Edited on August 7, 2010 at 5:34 PM. Reason : .]

8/7/2010 5:31:46 PM